Mad Cool, an Irish-bred 5-year-old, can become the sixth horse to sweep Japan’s two Grade 1 sprints in the same year when he starts as one of the leading choices in Sunday’s $2.31 million Sprinters Stakes at six furlongs at Nakayama Racecourse.

Mad Cool, second in the 2023 Sprinters Stakes, won the Grade 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen at six furlongs at Chukyo in March in a 9-1 upset, but followed with a surprising last-place finish in the Group 1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize at Sha Tin Racecourse in Hong Kong in April, his most recent start.

Paul Lally:

R1 7-6-1-4
R2 6-8-3-4
R3 5-3-7-2
R4 10-3-1-5
R5 7-6-12-2
R6 3-11-2-6
R7 1-2-9-6
R8 3-2-1-4
R9 12-6-7-2
R10 2-12-6-3

Best Bet R5 N7 Mr Energia
Longshot R6 N3 My Flying Angel
Play R9 QQP 6-7-12

Tom Wood:

R1: 1-4-7-3
R2: 2-6-3-8
R3: 3-5-2-7
R4: 3-8-6-11
R5: 4-2-7-11
R6: 11-6-2-8
R7: 1-2-9-8
R8: 4-2-5-6
R9: 6-7-13-12
R10: 2-13-3-8

By Leo Schlink

Zac Purton believes racing manners will be crucial to Bottomuptogether’s prospects in the Class 3 Yan Chai Trophy Handicap (1200m) at Sha Tin tomorrow (Saturday, 28 September) when the unbeaten gelding bids to advance Four-Year-Old Classic Series credentials with a fourth successive win.

One might think, having seen his impressive victory in the Group 1 Prix Morny on Aug. 18, that Whistlejacket, a beast of a colt, rates as the best 2-year-old sprinter in Europe – but for the fact that the filly Babouche had handed him a 1 1/2-length defeat just eight days earlier in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes.

Broadsiding has won four stakes in Australia since mid-April, while Traffic Warden has won two since early March.

As a pair, they give Godolphin Racing and trainer James Cummings a deep team in Friday’s Group 1 Golden Rose Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds at seven furlongs at Rosehill Gardens in Sydney, Australia.

By Declan Schuster

Hong Kong-trained runners return to the G1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) in Japan for the first time since 2018 on Sunday (29 September), when Victor The Winner and Mugen bid to join Silent Witness (2005) and Ultra Fantasy (2010) on the illustrious honour roll.

Former jockey Felix Coetzee partnered Hong Kong’s legendary galloper Silent Witness in each of his 29 starts, including his unmatched 17-race unbeaten streak at Sha Tin, which spanned from December, 2002 to April, 2005.

Sha Tin Selections
(Saturday, September 28, 2024)

From one big-ticket race to another, I Wish I Win may have a lucrative schedule in coming weeks in Australia.

I Wish I Win is part of a field of 13 in Friday’s Group 1 Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley Racecourse in Melbourne, a six-furlong race with a purse of $1.37 million. The race is a prep for the $13.7 million Everest Stakes at six furlongs at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Oct. 19.

I Wish I Win was second in the 2023 Everest Stakes, the world’s richest sprint.

By Leo Schlink

Caspar Fownes and Hugh Bowman continued a flourishing partnership at Happy Valley on Wednesday night (25 September), dominating with a treble to maintain the duo’s stunning winning strike rate.

With the wins tonight of Sky Song, Noble Pursuit and Rocket Spade, Fownes and Bowman improved their combined winning strike rate this season to 45.45% with five victories from only 11 runners, as Bowman boosted his tally to eight wins – only three shy of Zac Purton’s 11.

William Barows, a Grade 2 stakes winner on dirt in Japan earlier this year, proved too tough to catch in Wednesday’s $470,132 Nippon TV Hai Stakes at Funabashi Racecourse in Tokyo, finishing a length in front of Breeders’ Cup Classic hopeful Ushba Tesoro.

Ushba Tesoro won the 2023 Nippon TV Hai.

Derma Sotogake, another potential runner in the BC Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 2, stalked William Barows to the final turn before fading to finish a well-beaten fifth in the dirt race at 1 1/8 miles.